A  STORY  OF 


BY  REV.  DAVID   SWING 


PRICE,  TEN   CENTS. 


r- — ~ 


COPYRIGHTED  1892  BY  H.  H.  GROSS. 


A  STORY  OF  THE  CHICAGO  FIRE 
BY  REV.  DAVID  SWING. 


J!     -^fitli^^  ^HW  x  BY  REV.  DAVID  SWING. 

HE  ART  of  writing  made  it  possible 
man  to  keep  a  history  of  his  race; 
but  that  art  coming  to  a  certain  time 
>  cannot  enable  that  period  to  restore 
the  lost  facts  of  the  past.     Tacitus 

could  put  upon  record  the  events  of  his  own  age,  but  his  pen 
was  powerless  to  make  a  true  biography  of  a  Moses  or  a  Xerxes. 
The  writing  of  history  must  be  done  at  the  time  and  place  of 
the  events;  the  historian,  like  the  painter,  must  work  in  the 
presence  of  his  subject.  As  no  artist  can  paint  the  portrait  of  a 
dead  or  absent  friend,  so  no  writer  can  delineate  an  absent  epoch. 
The  fact  that  an  age  possesses  the  art  of  writing  and  is  proud 
of  the  art,  gives  no  high  assurance  that  it  will  impress  the  pen 
and  parchment  into  the  service  of  history.  The  popular  taste 


4  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

may  turn  toward  poetry  or  the  drama,  philosophy  or  fable.  The 
human  race  has  always  been  the  victim  of  specialties.  Homer 
would  have  felt  degraded  had  any  local  club  asked  him  to  write 
a  history  of  his  own  town  or  district  or  state.  Genius  like  his 
must  honor  itself  by  setting  to  verse  only  what  never  came  to 
pass;  a  record  of  the  actual  would  have  been  a  disgrace  to  the 
Homeric  studio  and  inkhorn.  The  middle  and  dark  ages  com- 
posed a  vast  quantity  of  metaphysical  literature,  but  no  scholars 
entertained  the  idea  of  putting  on  record  the  condition  and  deeds 
of  their  own  centuries. 

The  present  is,  of  all  ages,  the  most  fond  of  history.  As  it 
was  taught  by  the  inductive  philosophy  to  extract  wisdom  from 
facts,  it  asks  each  day  to  report  its  series  of  facts.  The  Civil  War, 
which  swept  over  this  land  for  four  years,  is  now  stored  away  in 
the  most  complete  history  ever  made  of  any  war  upon  earth. 
To  the  text  of  an  army  of  writers  was  added  the  art  of  picturing 
each  incident.  The  fall  of  each  officer,  the  armies  on  the  march, 
the  hosts  in  battle,  the  camp-fire,  the  hospital,  the  troops  crossing 
a  stream,  the  pickets  on  duty,  the  gun-boats,  the  negro  contra- 
bands, the  victories,  the  defeats,  are  all  stored  away,  not  only  in 
the  text  of  the  historian,  but  also  in  the  portfolio  of  the  artist. 
The  discovery  of  photography  has  more  and  more  inflamed  the 


TYPES   FROM   THE   CANVAS. 


public  passion  for  history,  and  has  made  more  possible  the  perfect 
reproduction  of  all  the  thrilling  or  beautiful  things  of  yesterday. 
In  the  years  which  preceded  the  Chicago  fire,  local  pride  — 
which  amounted  almost  to  vanity  —  had  quietly  induced  every 
business  man  to  own  a  picture  of  his  place.  Each  holder  of  realty 
could  not  sleep  in  peace  until  he  had  secured  a  good  photograph 
of  the  street  which  was  adorned  by  his  structure;  each  clergyman 
felt  sure  that  the  work  of  the  gospel  would  be  advanced  greatly 
by  a  good  picture  of  the  building  in  which  certain  eloquent 
preaching  was  done;  the  grain  men  looked  after  the  interests  of 
their  elevators  and  the  compilers  of  guide-books  and  railway 
specialties  published  views  of  bridges,  public  buildings,  docks, 
depots  and  shipping.  This  local  pride  was  a  hidden  blessing;  for 
when,  on  a  certain  morning,  all  this  "pomp  and  circumstance" 
was  reduced  to  dust,  the  pictures  came  back  to  tell  the  public 
what  that  city  was  which  passed  away  so  suddenly  one  October. 


TYPES  FROM   THE  CANVAS. 


The  scene  of  that  night  and  day  is  restored;  and  the  history  which 
words  might  afford  is  rendered  tame  and  weak  when  compared 
with  this  vivid  reproduction  made  by  a  group  of  the  most  gifted 
painters.  So  truthful  is  this  panorama  that  those  who  lived  in 
the  city  at  the  time  of  the  conflagration  see  again  the  doors  which 
they  once  entered,  the  bridges  they  once  crossed  and  the  churches 
in  which  they  worshipped  on  that  last  Sunday  of  the  old  regime. 

Although  the  gentleman,  Mr. 
Howard  H.  Gross,  who  designed 
the  picture  of  the  Chicago  fire,  pos- 
sessed  all  these  aids,  he  found  few 
men  who  at  first  believed  that  any 
kind  of  image  could  be  made  of 
such  a  conflagration.  We  were  all 
too  full  of  the  immensity  of  the  old 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


fact  to  be  able  to  do  justice  to  the  skill  of  the  new  artists  of  the 
world.  The  age  had  created  a  new  kind  of  genius,  for  in  mind, 
as  in  matter,  a  supply  is  liable  to  follow  a 
demand.  The  projector  of  the  scheme  was 
not  easily  turned  aside  from  his  purpose, 
so  he  bade  his  faint-hearted  friends  step 
to  the  rear.  What  followed  may  well  be 
called  a  great  page  in  history.  It  is  the 
burning  of  a  great  city,  not  as  read 
of,  but  as  seen.  The  artists  had  to 
meet  new  problems — those  of  mak- 
ing a  canvas,  which  was  bent  in  both 
a  horizontal  and  a  vertical  curve,  pre- 
sent a  true  building  to  the  eye  of  the  spectator.  The  difficul- 
ties were  met,  and  the  whole  work  is  a  piece  of  realism  not  often 
accomplished. 

The  former  Chicago  fell  a  victim  to  what  must  be  called  a 
fortuitous  concurrence  of  incidents.  Those  incidents  are  worthy 
of  mention.  Rising  up  in  a  lumber  region,  its  dwelling  houses 
were  commonly  of  wood;  it  grew  so  rapidly  that  the  fire  depart- 
ment was  not  enlarged  rapidly  enough  to  enable  it  to  keep  equal 
to  the  growing  demands;  the  firemen  had  been  worn  out  at  a 


TYPES   FROM   THE   CANVAS. 


twelve-hour  task  on  the  night  before  the  great  fire  was  destined 
to  spring  up;  the  great  flame  broke  out  among  acres  of  tinder, 
almost  as  inflammable  as  powder;  near  these  acres  of  dry  stuff 
stood  the  lofty  structures  of  the  business  portion  of  the  city;  a 
wind  flying  fifty  miles  an  hour  carried  the  mighty  column  of 
sparks  and  cinders  from  the  wooden  tenements  to  the  high  roofs 
of  the  central  city.  In  a  half  hour  after  the  first  blaze  was  seen, 
it  was  as  though  a  Vesuvius  were  pouring  a  torrent  of  lava  upon 
the  classic  towns  at  its  base.  In  one  hour  a  hundred  engines 
would  have  been  as  powerless  to  stay  this  destruction  as  they 
would  have  been  to  quench  Vesuvius  in  the  days  of  the  Plinys. 
The  hot  wave  poured  forward  like  that  volume  of  water  which  a 
few  years  ago  swept  down  the  valley  of  the  Conemaugh. 

Sunday  evening  at  8.45,  October  8,  1871,  flames  were  seen 
issuing  from  the  door  and  roof  of  a  small  stable.  The  alarm  was 
responded  to  rather  tardily  by  the  fire  companies.  The  men  had 


IO 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


been  worn  out  the  previous  night.  It  is  said  to  have  been  almost 
a  half  hour  before  the  work  of  fighting  the  enemy  had  been 
started.  Rapidly  the  little  blaze  passed  into  a  large  one,  and  soon 
both  the  fire  department  and  the  spectators  began  to  say:  "This 
is  destined  to  be  something  awful."  In  a  very  few  minutes  poor 
people  were  seen  hurrying  out  of  their  cottages  or  shanties  —  the 
first  members  of  that  procession  which  was  soon  to  number  a 
hundred  thousand  citizens. 

The  tale  that  a  cow,  belonging  to  the 
O'Leary  family,  kicked  over  a  lamp,  and 


WHERE  MRS.  O'LEARY  LIVED. 


thus  caused  an  explosive  fire  among 
the  hay  in  the  little  barn,  was  early 
shown  to  be  false.  On  that  hot  evening 
the  famous  Mrs.  O'Leary  milked  her  cow  long  before  sunset,  and 
testified  that  she  took  no  lamp  or  light  to  the  building.  That  the 
fire  started  in  the  O'Leary  barn  admits  of  no  doubt,  but  it  is  not 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


I  I 


known  what  person  may  have  set  the  hay  on  fire,  nor  in  what 
manner  the  deed  was  done.  The  best  authenticated  story  is  that 
which  declares  that  at  the  rear  of  the  O'Leary  cot  lived  in  peace 
and  happiness  a  little  family,  to  whose  hospitality  a  young  girl 


had  come  from  the 
jf-^old  home  in  Ireland. 
She  came  Saturday 
night,  but  it  was  Sun- 
THE  COURT  HOUSE,  day  evening  before  it  fully 
dawned  upon  the  minds  of  the  cottagers 
that  they  ought  to  celebrate  the  arrival  of  such  a 
dear  friend  who  had  journeyed  so  far.  But  no  happy  event  can 
be  celebrated  without  the  help  of  food  and  drink.  Inasmuch 
as  October  has  in  it  the  letter  "r,"  oysters  were  thought  of.  The 
oysters  came  soon  after  the  thought  of  them  had  sprung  into 
existence,  but  there  was  wanting  the  milk  needed  for  making  a 
good  stew.  A  young  man,  who  was  not  unwilling  to  display  his 


12  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

ingenuity  to  the  distinguished  guest,  proposed  that  he  work  his 
way  into  the  O'Leary  stable  and  secure  the  much  needed  article. 
It  was  8.30.  He  had  to  take  a  lamp,  for  no  strange  man  would  be 
foolish  enough  to  find  and  milk  a  strange  cow  in  the  dark.  The 
rest  of  this  story  is  well  known  to  millions  of  people  and  to  insur- 
ance companies  of  England  and  America.  It  lies  nearest  the 
truth.  It  is  the  best  of  the  stories  of  the  "cow."  Destruction 
began  in  a  structure  held  by  the  O'Leary s,  and  in  the  front  of  the 
building,  which  now  stands  where  the  O'Leary  cottage  stood, 
there  is  a  tablet  which  tells  strangers  exactly  where  the  first 
smoke  of  the  battle  arose. 

This  starting  point  was  about  a  half  mile  to  the  southwest  of 
the  massive  business  portion  of  the  city.  This  business  area  was  a 
little  more  than  a  half  mile  square.  It  was  almost  wholly  occupied 
by  solid  brick,  stone  and  iron  blocks.  Here  were  the  hotels,  the 
theatres,  the  music  halls,  the  opera  house,  a  few  massive  churches, 
and  here  the  banks  and  the  immense  and  costly  structures  dedi- 
cated to  business.  Toward  this  costly  district  the  flames  bounded 
from  the  start.  The  mad  wind  whirled  smoke  and  blaze  and  coals 
off  toward  the  tall  fabrics,  and  soon  the  streets  which  had  long 
been  famous  for  their  hum  of  business  were  only  channels  along 
which  rolled  great  volumes  of  fire  and  smoke. 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


For  a  half  hour  sanguine  minds  thought  the  fire  would  remain 
on  the  west  side  of  the  little  river.  It  was  hoped  that  a  few 
squares,  northeast  of  the  O'Leary  barn,  would  satisfy  the  hungry 
monster.  But  all  these  hopeful  hearts  had  failed  to  estimate  the 
power  of  the  wind.  The  wind  carried  burning  shingles,  also 
pieces  of  building  paper  a  yard  square.  When  the  light  frame 
work  of  a  barn  had  been  consumed  the  wind  would  take  up  an 

JL      armful   of   burning   hay  and 
throw  it   upward  and   onward. 
The  river  was  no  obstacle.    A 
stream  only  a  hundred  feet  wide 
did  not  interfere  in  the  least  with 
burning   torches   which    in- 
"  perhaps  to  travel  a 


TRIBUNE   BUILDING. 


mile  before  touching  roof  or  ground. 

One  of  the  most  thrilling  moments  of  that  Sunday  night  was 
that  in  which  many  persons  said:  "See!  see  !  the  fire  has  crossed 
the  river!"  When  the  firemen  saw  great  six-story  buildings,  far 
away,  suddenly  burst  out  in  one  vast  blaze,  their  hearts  failed  them 
and  their  faithful  engines  seemed  only  playthings  for  children. 

Starting  at  a  given  point,  the  fire  could  not  work  backwards. 
On  account  of  the  wind,  the  movement  of  the  enemy  had  to  be  in 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


a  fan-shaped  form  and  forward.  It  widened  as  it  went.  But 
cutting  through  to  the  lake  on  its  right  wing,  it  was  compelled  to 
advance  all  of  Monday  in  the  shape  of  an  irregular  triangle,  with 
its  base  widening  each  hour. 

Before  the  destruction  crossed  the  river  it  was  backed  up  by 
a  hundred  acres  of  ruin  at  its  starting  point.  Bateham's  mill  was 
four  stories  high.  Around  its  mass  of  wooden  stuff  were  a  thou- 
sand cords  of  kindling  wood,  six  hundred  thousand  feet  of  lumber 
and  more  than  a  million  shingles.  This  dry  material,  covering  an 
acre  and  a  half  of  ground,  made  a  blaze  which  was  simply  appal- 
ling. From  that  one  fire  alone  were  hurled  upward  pieces  of 
burning  board  four  feet  in  length,  and  yet  it  was  only  one  angry 
spot  in  a  hundred  acres  of  such  wrath.  The  heat 
and  blaze  and  cinders  from  this  immense  space 
were  all  moving  to  the  northeast  and  arching 
over  the  costly  buildings  they  intended  soon  to 
destroy.  In  the  presence  of  such  heat  the  hose 
of  the  fire  engines  was  roasted.  From  some  of 
the  engines  the  firemen  ran  with  their  hair 
scorched  and  their  hands  blistered.  Engines 
had  to  be  abandoned  and  were  left  to  die  with 
their  wheels  running  to  the  last. 


IT  MUST  BE  SAVED 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE.  15 

The  Parmelee  Omnibus  Company  had  just  completed  a  kind 
of  palace  for  their  horses  and  vehicles.  The  barn  had  cost  about 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  and  had  enjoyed  a  few  days  of  free 
exhibition.  This  was  the  point  at  which  the  enemy  entered  the 
East,  or  South  Side.  It  was  half-past  eleven  o'clock.  In  two  and 
a  half  hours  all  the  buildings  had  been  swept  from  one  hundred 
acres  of  land.  But  a  large  task  was  still  to  be  performed  ;  the 
rolling  flame  had  still  fourteen  hundred  acres  to  transform  into 
a  desert. 

At  this  point  and  time  the  pen  of  the  historian  becomes 
powerless.  The  scene  redoubles  its  grandeur  as  the  buildings 
redouble  their  size  and  their  significance.  The  roar  of  the  flames 
grows,  and  the  falling  of  walls  and  iron  columns  beats  a  kind  of 
funereal  time  to  hoarse  music.  The  faces  of  men  grow  more  sol- 
emn. Thousands  of  persons,  who  had  long  been  watching  from 
the  roofs  of  hotels  and  public  buildings  the  moving  volcano,  said 
to  each  other  :  "We  must  leave,  we  must  save  what  we  can." 

There  were  twenty-five  hotels  that  must  be  destroyed,  three 
thousand  buildings  in  this  one  district  which  must  be  vacated  at 
once.  It  being  the  time  of  the  autumn  travel,  the  hotels  were 
all  full.  It  was  not  quite  midnight  when  the  clerk  of  the  Palmer 
House  ordered  every  person  to  be  aroused  and  be  told  that  they 


16  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

must  take  to  the  street.  There  was  no  need  of  any  panic  and 
none  occurred.  The  "transients"  went  to  the  desk  and  paid 
bills  up  to  the  last  tea.  Well  dressed  people  carried  down  stairs 
their  own  trunks  and  valises.  One  by  one  and  group  by  group 
the  inmates  went  out  into  the  warm  air.  They  needed  no  street 
lamps  ;  there  was  an  adequate  illumination  of  land  and  sky. 

The  Sherman  House  was  in  the  first  line  of  the  fire,  and 
had  to  be  vacated  with  a'little  less  of  deliberation.  There  were 
five  sick  ladies  in  the  house.  Four  of  these  were  carried  down 
and  out  to  such  carriage  or  vehicle  as  could  be  found.  One 
invalid,  who  was  cared  for  by  the  hotel  chambermaids,  had  been 
forgotten.  The  faithful  clerk  asked  for  her  and  soon  some  police- 
men and  others  hastened  up  to  her  room.  They  found  her  sitting 
up  in  her  bed  wondering  about  the  noise  and  tumult.  She  was 
removed  from  the  great  building  only  a  few  minutes  before  it 
added  itself  to  the  wide  army  of  smoke  and  fire. 

Up  to  this  time  the  fire  must  not  be  thought  of  as  one  wide, 
solid  wave.  The  main  army  threw  out  advanced  squads.  By  the 
time  the  Sherman  fell  there  must  have  been  twenty  or  thirty 
enormous  conflagrations.  There  were  houses  burning  far  in 
advance  of  the  main,  wide  march.  There  were  many  islands  of  fire 
in  the  sea  of  houses.  Each  one  of  these  advanced  guards  seemed 
to  say:  "Fall  back  everybody,  for  a  great  army  is  coming." 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


At  about  three  o'clock  Monday  morning  the  water  works 
building  burst  into  flames,  and  soon  the  timbers  of  the  roof  fell 

into  the  machinery:  The  burning  of 
the  Lill  Brewing  and  Malt  House,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  water  works,  over- 
whelmed with  coals  and  heat,  the  ma- 
chinery which  had  in  former  days  and 
years  been  prompt  to  supply  and  pro- 
tect. The  fire,  which  began  at  the 
O'Leary  barn,  had  moved  straight  to  the  water  works  and  reached 
that  point  in  six  hours,  although  it  had  been  compelled  to  cut  a 
channel  two  miles  and  a  quarter  in  length. 

The  most  fearful  hour  of  the  twenty-six  must  have  oeen 
about  five  o'clock  Monday  morning.  The  separate  conflagrations 
had  spread  until  they  had  become  merged  into  one.  The  bridges 
which  connected  the  north  and  south  divisions  were  on  fire. 
Tugs  were  puffing  in  their  efforts  to  draw  valuable  vessels  out  into 
the  wide  lake.  At  the  Rush  street  bridge  ships  were  in  flames. 
The  homeless  people  were  crowding  toward  the  north  lake  shore 
in  not  only  great  numbers,  but  in  the  most  amazing  disorder  The 
rich  and  the  poor,  the  well  and  ill,  those  about  to  get  married  and 
those  about  to  die,  those  who  had  a  dead  child  or  dead  friend  in 


18  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

the  house,  persons  in  carriages,  persons  in  spring  wagons,  persons 
on  foot  and  carrying  trunks,  terrified  horses,  cows  led  by  a  rope, 
dogs,  cats,  canary  birds,  parrots,  women  carrying  furniture,  men 
with  wheelbarrows,  great  trucks  full  of  costly  goods  from  some 
mercantile  house,  servant  girls  carrying  in  their  arms  their  best 
dress,  their  prayer  book  and  their  photograph  album,  combined 
to  make  a  scene  not  often  repeated  in  the  history  of  man's  mis- 
fortunes. Wonderful  scene  when  a  hundred  thousand  persons 
must  move  in  one  night  at  the  bidding  of  such  a  tyrant  as  a  wave 
of  fire! 

The  Marine  Hospital,  near  the  Rush  street  bridge,  the  Rush 
street  bridge  and  the  Lake  House,  were  objects  of  great  interest, 
because  the  city,  which  seemed  to  be  dying  around  these  points, 
had  begun  its  life  there.  There  was  Fort  Dearborn  with  its 
memory  of  whites,  Indians  and  massacre;  there  was  the  hospital 
where  sick  seamen  had  found  care  and  comfort  when  the  West 
was  indeed  wild;  there  was  the  bridge  where  once  skiffs  and 
canoes  and  then  pontoons  had  been  the  means  of  crossing  the 
little  stream;  while  just  over  the  river  the  Lake  House  stood, 
whose  old  fashioned  walls  and  rooms  had  once  been  the  tavern 
for  all  the  founders  of  the  mercantile  and  moral  Chicago;  and 
one  square  south  of  Fort  Dearborn  stood  the  little  hotel  which 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE.  IQ 

"fed  and  slept"  once  the  Prince  of  Wales,  when  he  was  a  gay  lad 
off  on  a  visit  to  America. 

It  was  pitiful  to  see  these  historic  objects  sink  on  that  Mon- 
day morning.  The  invalids  who  had  sat  on  the  old  porches  of  the 
hospital  or  had  reclined  in  the  neat  bed-rooms  while  the  autumn 
days  were  passing  were  rudely  dispersed;  the  Richmond  House 
said  a  hasty  good-bye  to  the  English  Prince;  the  Rush  street 
bridge  did  its  last  work  in  the  world  and  the  Lake  House  shook 
its  table  cloth  and  rang  its  old  supper  bell  for  the  last  time.  These 
historic  objects  all  went  down  at  one  and  the  same  moment. 

The  Rush  street  bridge,  being  nearest  the  lake  and  east  of  the 
first  line  of  the  fire,  was  the  last  to  burn.  When  Mayor  Mason 
could  not  get  to  the  South  Side  by  the  bridge  at  Wells  or  Clark 
or  State  street,  he  found  the  Rush  street  bridge  still  sound.  He 
worked  his  \vay  through  the  throng  on  that  last  link.  Its  last 
hour  of  business  was  the  heaviest  of  its  history — at  least,  it  was 
the  most  exciting  hour.  Many  were  driven  toward  it  by  the  com- 
mon enemy.  A  few  hundred  yards  to  the  northeast  of  that  bridge 
lay  the  "sands" — a  wide,  long  shore  without  great  buildings,  and 
much  of  it  was  free  from  all  that  could  burn.  Toward  that  refuge 
a  mixed  throng  poured  over  the  Rush  street  bridge.  All  were 
terrified.  Even  the  horses  had  to  be  led,  for  they  had  become 


20  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

helpless  through  fear.  A  propeller  lay  burning  a  hundred  yards 
east  of  the  bridge,  and  great  lofty  fires  were  at  hand  on  the  west. 
Amid  smoke,  dust,  wind,  sparks  and  mingled  noises  of  all  kinds 
at  once,  men,  women  and  teams  struggle  northward.  The  men 
who  had  long  turned  the  bridge  to  let  the  shipping  pass  rang  the 
bell  no  more.  They  had  reached  a  time  when  no  ship  could  wish 
to  pass  in  or  out  between  such  hot  banks.  At  length  the  bridge 
itself  took  fire,  and  the  feet  that  ventured  became  few.  The 
bridge  tenders  deserted  reluctantly  their  post  of  duty  and  in  an 
hour  this  historic  spot  was  taken  from  the  gaze  of  man. 

The  breadth  and  the  advance  of  the  devourer  were  awe- 
inspiring.  The  mind  became  full  of  wonders,  fears  and  sympathies. 
The  house  of  a  precious  friend  was  falling,  the  parents  and  the 
children  were  in  the  street.  Men  who  on  Sunday  were  rich,  on 
Monday  were  poor.  Buildings  worth  a  million  were  passing  in 
an  hour  into  blaze  and  smoke,  churches  were  pointing  to  Heaven 
with  blazing  spires.  The  organ  pipes  were  roaring,  but  not  with 
music.  The  Bible  on  the  sacred  desk  was  burning  with  the 
burning  pulpit.  The  beautiful  decorations  of  costly  structures 
reared  to  Religion,  or  the  Opera,  or  the  Drama,  were  all  hurrying 
back  to  dust.  In  the  private  houses  the  costly  book-cases  with 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE.  21 

their  volumes,  the  carved  work  in  the  stairway  and  the  dining- 
room,  the  piano,  the  curtains,  the  pillows  and  the  chairs  were  all 
hastening  to  join  the  kingdom  of  ashes.  Here  and  there  a  human 
being,  stifled  with  smoke  or  disabled  by  age  or  disease,  fell  down 
and  died  and  was  buried  in  a  few  moments  by  an  avalanche  of 
hot  walls.  At  this  hour  there  were  five  hundred  acres  of  solid 
fire  —  a  hot  sea  without  one  island  —  and  here  were  passing  away 
a  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  property.  Man,  with  all  his 
boasted  science  and  wit  and  inventions,  looked  toward  the 
spectacle  and  felt  his  insignificance.  Egotism  and  philosophy 
put  aside  their  difference  and  agreed  in  making  a  speedy  retreat. 
As  early  as  one  o'clock  Sunday  night,  Mayor  Mason  sug- 
gested, or  ordered,  that  buildings  must  be  leveled  with  powder 
along  the  south  line  of  the  flames.  The  entire  city  would  be 
destroyed  if  men  failed  to  blow  up  a  few  buildings.  The  fire 
would  advance  against  the  wind  by  the  direct  radiation  of  heat. 
But  it  was  seven  or  eight  o'clock  Monday  morning  before  the 
blowing-up  of  houses  actually  began.  Gen.  Sheridan  turned  his 
energy  to  that  work.  He  was  ably  assisted  by  men  known  and 
unknown  to  him.  The  first  building  to  be  blown  to  pieces  was  a 
frame  structure  on  the  corner  of  State  and  Harrison  streets.  Its 


22  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

destruction  was  followed  by  some  three-story  brick  houses.  In  a 
short  time  a  boundary  was  set  to  the  spread  of  the  fire  southward. 
The  lake  bounded  it  on  the  east.  It  could  run  only  northward,  if 
the  wind  should  not  change.  The  wind  held  to  its  course,  and  by 
the  help  of  a  slight  shower  of  rain  the  fire  ended  about  three  and 
a  half  miles  from  where  it  began. 

It  would  be  more  pleasant  to  write  in  the  name  of  this  great 
event  had  the  history  no  disgraceful  page.  But  in  the  midst  of 
deserted  saloons  all  kinds  of  liquors  became  free,  and  on  Monday 
morning  drunkenness  and  stealing  added  to  the  misery  of  the 
spectacle.  Young  men  and  old  joined  most  recklessly  in  deeds 
of  crime.  In  the  south  division,  where  great  efforts  were  being 
made  to  save  valuable  goods,  there  rushed  to  and  fro  men  mad 
with  the  prospect  of  stealing  riches,  and  men  mad  with  liquor,  of 
all  grades  and  colors.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  awakened 
thieves  and  turbulent  characters  might  desire  the  sacking  of  the 
city  to  be  made  more  complete  and  might  start  new  fires  in  the 
remaining  parts  of  the  city.  A  new  invoice  of  bad  men  was 
arriving  each  hour.  The  taste  of  plunder  having  been  once 
awakened  and  enjoyed,  it  was  not  probable  that  its  victims  would 
be  restrained  by  simple  respect  for  the  rights  of  good  citizens. 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE.  23 

So  many  were  the  criminal  deeds  committed  on  Monday,  and  so 
helpless  lay  the  city  authority,  that  Gen.  Sheridan  was  asked  to 
take  command  of  life  and  property.  He  did  so,  and  in  a  few 
hours  all  honest  hearts  were  cheered  by  seeing  the  forms  and 
guns  of  soldiers  from  the  nearest  cities.  In  the  meantime  the 
railways  were  bearing  United  States  troops  to  new  kind  of  war. 
The  soldiers  came  none  too  soon.  Men  were  caught  starting  new 
fires.  The  common  rumor  was  that  some  of  these  thugs  died  on 
the  spot.  For  some  reason  the  air  was  soon  full  of  a  healthy  dread 
of  the  troops,  and  by  Wednesday  General  Sheridan  was  able  to 
report  that  all  was  quiet.  Thus,  the  General's  name  stands  asso- 
ciated with  the  powder  that  stopped  the  fire  and  the  other  powder 
that  headed  off  the  complete  sacking  and  burning  of  the  remains 
of  the  great  metropolis. 

Such  a  calamity  waked  up  the  inner  nature  of  each  man,  and 
made  some  hearts  shine  out  in  their  real  nobleness  and  other 
hearts  reveal  their  intrinsic  meanness.  Some  expressmen,  having 
charged  enormous  sums  for  conveying  valuable  goods  to  a  fixed 
point,  either  stole  the  goods  or  else  dumped  them  on  the  ground, 
and  then  loaded  up  for  some  new  customer.  Some  revealed  a 
quiet  willingness  to  aid  some  family  for  a  moderate  sum,  and 


24  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

having  loaded  up  with  choice  goods  went  away  ten  miles  to 
where  some  married  daughter  or  son  would  be  delighted  with  the 
articles  " father"  had  saved  from  the  fire! 

All  who  were  in  the  midst  of  the  scene  confessed  then,  and 
now  repeat,  that  the  charity  which  followed  the  fire  was  a  more 
impressive  event  than  the  sea  of  flames.  No  such  world-wide 
sympathy  and  action  had  ever  before  graced  humanity.  Civili- 
zation had  made  the  human  heart  warm;  the  telegraph  had  come 
to  express  instantly  the  new  love.  Before  the  fire  was  out  train- 
loads  of  provisions  had  started  from  the  nearest  cities.  On 
Tuesday  the  telegraphs  of  the  world  were  sending  messages  to 
the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  On  Wednesday  the  messages  came 
more  rapidly  than  they  could  be  read  and  measured.  Nations, 
cities,  corporations,  individuals,  offered  aid.  The  Queen  at  her 
throne,  the  merchant  at  his  desk,  the  poet  in  his  studio,  the 
workingman  in  his  shop,  paused  to  send  some  aid  to  the  stricken 
thousands.  The  first  dispatch  came  from  Boston  offering  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  A  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  were 
telegraphed  on  Tuesday.  Prince  Alexis  of  Russia  sent  five 
thousand  dollars,  and  an  equal  sum  came  from  a  young  Prince  in 
Japan.  Cincinnati  sent  a  train-load  of  food,  and  cooks  and 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE.  25 

distributors,  and  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  cash.  As  did  one, 
so  did  all,  until  there  had  come  to  the  homeless  more  than  five 
millions  of  dollars,  in  addition  to  the  uncounted  values  in  food, 
and  in  private  gifts  from  friend  to  friend.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  tender  and  the  gifted  mind  of  the  poet 
Whittier  could  not  remain  silent: 

"A  sudden  impulse  thrilled  each  will 
That  signalled  round  that  sea  of  fire, 
Swift  words  of  cheer,  warm  heart  throbs  came; 
In  tears  of  pity  died  the  flame. 

"  From  east  and  west  from  south  and  north 
The  messages  of  hope  shot  forth, 
And  underneath  the  severing  wave 
The  world  full-handed  reached  to  save. 

"  Fair  seemed  the  old;  but  fairer  still 
The  new  the  dreary  void  shall  fill, 
With  dearer  homes  than  those  o'erthrown, 
For  love  shall  lay  each  corner  stone." 

If  power  destroyed  Chicago,  so  power  compelled  it  to  rise 
again.  The  railways  pointed  toward  it,  and  hundreds  of  trains 
were  moving  to  it  with  grain,  stock  and  merchandise  even  while 
it  was  burning.  Toward  it  a  hundred  vessels  were  sailing  on  the 
great  lakes.  The  grain  fields,  the  lumber  forests,  the  mines  of 
coal  and  ores  did  not  know  of  any  such  conflagration.  The  city 


26 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


was  only  the  depot  of  the  West,  and  it  had  to  be  rebuilt  to  respond 
instantly  to  the  ship  and  the  car.     Toward  such  recon- 
struction the  insurance  companies  of  the  New  and  Old 
Worlds  paid  in  at  once  fifty  millions  of  dollars.     Other 
sums  could  be  borrowed  with  the  ground  as  a  security, 
and  up  arose  the  city,  street  by  street  and  mile  by 
mile.     Workmen  came  from  all  directions,  and  for 
months  and  seasons  the  scene  was  an  expanse  of 
derricks,  ropes,  walls,  towers,  stones,  brick,  mortar 
and  dust,  abundant  and  endless.     Thus  went  and 
came  back  tens  of  thousands  of  buildings 
and    hundreds    of    millions   of    dollars. 
And   now  the   watchmen   on   the 
midnight  street   say:     "All 
is  well." 


THE    ARTIST    RECORDING    HISTORY. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PAINTING. 

observer  in  the  Cyclorama  of  the  great  Chicago  Fire 
is  presumed  to  stand  in  an  elevated  position  on  the  site 
of   old    Fort    Dearborn — the    cradle    and    birth-place    of 
Chicago  —  and  immediately  south  of  the  Rush  street  bridge. 

When  it  was  determined  to  produce  the  great  Cyclorama  of 
the  burning  of  Chicago,  the  artists  realized  that  there  would  be  at 
least  three  things  that  the  people  visiting  it  would  like  to  see,  viz: 
the  Ruins  of  Chicago,  the  Fire  of  Chicago,  and  some  of  the 
unburnt  portion  of  the  old  city,  showing  the  style  of  architecture 
and  familiar  street  scenes  of  the  ante-fire  days.  By  looking 
southwest  one  may  see  the  devastation  wrought  by  the  flames, 
and  be  able  to  understand  what  the  people  of  Chicago  had  to 
begin  business  with  the  next  day.  Here  are  hundreds  of  acres  of 
ruins,  smoking  hot;  in  fact,  everything  on  the  South  Side,  west  of 
State  street,  being  at  this  hour  in  ruins  —  all  of  which  is  histori- 
cally correct,  and  shows  truthfully  the  situation  earty  upon  the 
morning  of  October  9,  1871.  Prominent  among  the  ruins  may 
be  seen  the  First  National  Bank  Building,  Tribune  Building,  the 
old  Court  House,  Crosby  Opera  House,  Honore  Block,  Palmer 
House,  the  Republic  Life  Insurance  Building  and  hundreds  of 
others. 

The  most  spectacular  and  thrilling  feature  of  the  scene  is  to 


28  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

be  found  in  the  north  division,  that  seems  to  be  at  this  hour  a 
literal  sea  of  fire,  without  an  island;  the  surging  flames  are 
sweeping  through  the  north  division  with  indescribable  fury;  the 
air  is  filled  with  flying  brands,  sparks  and  cinders;  the  streets  are 
veritable  whirlwinds  of  fire,  falling  walls  and  crumbling  buildings 
on  every  hand.  The  whole  effect  is  grand  and  awful  in  the 
extreme. 

A  charming  feature  of  the  great  canvas  is  the  historical  res- 
toration of  a  portion  of  old  Chicago,  showing  many  streets  and 
hundreds  of  buildings  as  they  were  before  the  fire  destroyed 
them;  in  fact,  at  this  early  morning  hour  the  fire  had  not  reached 
the  lake  shore,  except  at  the  water-works,  all  of  the  north  division 
east  of  Cass  street  being  yet  unharmed,  all  of  Michigan  and  part 
of  Wabash  avenue  being  intact,  while  close  at  hand  are  many 
interesting  landmarks  of  early  Chicago,  particularly  the  old  Lake 
House,  upon  the  corner  of  North  Water  and  Rush  streets,  which 
is  said  to  be  the  first  brick  building  put  up  in  Chicago.  Just 
east  of  the  observer,  on  Michigan  avenue,  the  old  U.  S.  Marine 
Hospital  Building,  which  is,  without  doubt,  the  finest  example  of 
architectural  painting  that  can  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  world 
to-day.  Amid  the  billowy  ocean  of  flame  to  the  north  and  west 
of  the  observer,  standing  out  in  bold  relief,  are  the  old  and  the 
new  St.  James  Churches,  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  Dr. 
Collyer's  Unity  Church  and  the  New  England  Church,  while  upon 
the  shores  of  this  fiery  ocean  stands  the  church  of  Prof.  David 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE.  2Q 

Swing.  Just  beyond  the  churches  one  may  see  dimly  through 
the  fire  and  smoke  the  residence  of  M.  D.  Ogden,  Esq.,  that 
passed  unharmed  through  the  fire — the  only  building  in  the 
north  division,  within  the  fire  limits,  that  escaped.  The  scene 
along  the  lake  shore,  in  and  about  the  hospital  and  the  bridge,  is 
one  of  indescribable  confusion  ;  men,  women  and  children,  with 
horses,  wagons  and  vehicles  of  all  kinds,  loaded  with  valuable 
goods  or  personal  effects,  are  struggling  frantically  to  get  they 
know  not  where,  but  each  is  seeking  his  individual  safety  at  the 
expense  of  everything  else.  When  the  eye  has  tired  of  contem- 
plating the  ruin  wrought  by  the  flames,  the  seething  sea  of  fire  to 
the  northwest  and  the  mad  and  wild  confusion  of  the  surging 
multitude,  one  may  look  away  to  the  eastward  over  a  beautiful 
marine  view  where  the  vision  may  find  quiet  and  rest,  where  the 
early  morning  sun,  glinting  with  silvery  sheen  the  distant  waters, 
is  all  that  is  left  to  cheer  amid  the  awful  disaster  that  is  in  and 
about  and  encompassing  all. 

As  a  subject,  the  Chicago  Fire  is  the  most  difficult  one  that 
has  ever  been  successfully  transferred  to  canvas,  and  altogether 
it  is  the  most  elaborate  and  expensive  work  of  art  ever  created  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  the  cost  of  the  same  to  the  company 
being  $250,000.  The  great  canvas,  with  its  superb  setting,  tells  the 
immortal  story  of  the  burning  of  Chicago  more  faithfully,  elo- 
quently and  truthfully  than  could  be  done  by  a  whole  library 
of  books. 


INTERESTING  FIGURES  REGARDING  THE  BURNING 
OF  CHICAGO.  OCTOBER  8  AND  9,  1871. 

There  are  some  events  in  history  too  great  for  the  human 
mind  to  grasp  in  their  entirety,  and  this  is  the  case  with  the 
Chicago  Fire.  This  disaster  was  unique  in  the  history  of  con- 
flagrations, and  so  unlike  everything  else  in  the  way  of  fires  that 
no  comparisons  can  justly  be  made.  Never  before  or  since  has 
such  great  destruction  been  wrought  by  flames. 

The  Chicago  Fire  swept  over  an  area  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  acres  every  hour  from  start  to  finish! 

It  destroyed  the  homes  of  one  hundred  people  every  minute! 

The  loss  in  property  was  a  million  dollars  every  five  minutes! 

Nearly  eighteen  thousand  buildings  reduced  to  ruins  —  seven- 
teen every  minute! 

Over  two  hundred  millions  of  property  destroyed! 

A  hundred  thousand  people  rendered  homeless  in  a  day! 

If  all  the  buildings  burned  were  placed  end  to  end  they 
would  make  an  unbroken  line  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long! 

To  walk  over  all  the  streets  in  the  burned  district  would 
require  four  days  of  good  traveling! 

The  Chicago  Fire  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the  insurance  com- 
panies throughout  the  world,  many  of  which  had  placed  very 


32  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

heavy  lines  of  risks  in  the  city.  There  were  scores  of  local  com- 
panies with  small  capital  that  were  wiped  out  by  the  great  fire. 
Some  paid  but  little  and  others  nothing.  However,  much  in- 
surance was  found  to  be  good,  many  of  the  old  line  companies 
responding  immediately  dollar  for  dollar.  The  first  loss  paid 
after  the  great  fire  was  paid  by  the  Agency  of  R.  S.  Critchell 
to  Hart,  Asten  &  Co.,  as  noted  by  the  Chicago  Tribune  of 
October  12,  1871.  Other  payments  quickly  followed,  and  this 
served  to  encourage  and  reassure  the  people,  and  rebuilding  was 
quickly  begun  and  carried  on  year  after  year  with  astonishing 
rapidity. 

Without  doubt  the  most  complete  compilation  of  statistics 
of  the  Chicago  Fire  was  prepared  by  Elias  Colbert,  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune.  Prof.  Colbert  is  peculiarly  well  adapted  to  a 
work  of  this  kind,  where  keen  discrimination,  mathematical 
exactness,  and  conscientious  and  persistent  effort  is  so  necessary. 
He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  authorities  living,  upon  the 
burning  of  Chicago. 


THE  PROMOTERS  OF  THE  GREAT  CYCLORAMA  OF  THE 
CHICAGO  FIRE. 

The  promoters  of  the  Cyclorama  showing  the  burning  of 
Chicago  are  Messrs.  Isaac  N.  Reed  and  Howard  H.  Gross,  co-part- 
ners as  Reed  &  Gross,  with  headquarters  at  Melbourne,  Australia, 
London,  England,  and  Chicago,  Illinois.  They  are  now  recog- 
nized as  the  foremost  men  in  the  world  for  the  production  of  this 
class  of  work.  By  the  application  of  first-class  business  capacity 
to  the  problem,  a  keen  discrimination  as  to  the  abilities  of  artists 
and  a  true  appreciation  of  the  merits  of  results,  together  with  a 
wide  experience,  ample  means  and  an  extended  acquaintance, 
have  enabled  them  to  successfully  bring  out  some  of  the  best 
Cycloramas  ever  produced,  the  last  and  greatest  of  all  is  The 
Chicago  Fire.  This  stands  as  a  monument  to  their  courage  and 
ability.  In  speaking  of  this  remarkable  production,  as  one  of  the 
great  Chicago  dailies  says:  "It  entitles  them  to  the  thanks  of  the 
community;  they  have  done  a  great  work  for  this  and  succeeding 
generations,  in  thus  resurrecting  the  buildings  and  ruins  of 
Chicago  with  historic  accuracy,  and  preserving  them  for  all  time 
to  come." 

Mr.  Reed  is  a  typical  Chicago  man,  possessing  an  untiring 


34 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


energy  and  a  fixedness  of  purpose  that  wins.  He  has  been 
uniformly  successful  in  all  his  business  undertakings.  He  is  now 
in  Melbourne,  Australia,  and  gives  his  time  to  the  foreign  work 
department  of  the  firm's  extended  business. 


ISAAC    N.   REED. 


Mr.  Gross  is  the  one  man  of  all  others  to  whom  the  public 
are  indebted  for  this  grand  historic  reproduction  of  the  burning 
He  is  a  man  of  rare  business  qualifications  and  a 


of  Chicago. 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


35 


marked  capacity  for  organization  and  direction.  In  gathering 
from  a  thousand  and  one  sources  the  necessary  data  for  this  pro- 
duction, arranging  and  verifying  it,  and  directing  the  work  of  the 
the  many  long  months  of  their  labors,  he  has 


artists  through 


HOWARD    H.   GROSS. 


accomplished  a  work  of  enormous  magnitude,  and  has  carried  to 
a  most  successful  completion  an  undertaking  that  was  regarded 
by  many  good  judges  as  quite  impossible. 


36  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

The  painting  was  supplied  to  the  Company  by  Messrs.  Reed 
and  Gross.  The  contract  has  been  fulfilled  by  them  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  the  Company,  and  to  the  surprise  and  delight  of 
all  beholders  of  this  great  work.  The  subject  is  the  most  difficult 
one  that  has  ever  been  transferred  to  canvas,  and  altogether  it 
is  the  most  elaborate  and  expensive  work  of  art  ever  attempted. 
Messrs.  Reed  and  Gross  received  for  their  contract  $250,000. 

The  paints  used  were  all  specially  prepared  and  ground  in 
poppy  seed  oil,  and  are  probably  the  finest  ever  used  upon  a 
Cyclorama.  They  were  supplied  principally  by  John  W.  Masury 
&  Son,  of  New  York  and  Chicago.  Some  of  the  colors  cost  from 
$5.00  to  $30.00  per  pound.  Nearly  two  tons  of  paints  and  oils 
were  required.  The  supplies,  brushes  and  tube  colors  were  fur- 
nished by  the  popular  firm  of  Geo.  E.  Watson  &  Co.,  of  this  city. 
The  canvas  is  nearly  fifty  feet  high  and  about  400  feet  long. 
Approximately  20,000  square  feet  of  surface.  The  work,  if  it 
had  been  done  by  one  man,  would  have  required  over  twenty 
years  to  complete. 


THE  ARTISTS. 


The  preparation  and  execution  of  so  great  an  undertaking  as 
the  creation  of  the  Great  Chicago  Fire  upon  a  canvas  covering 
twenty  thousand  square  feet  of  space,  making  the  work  worthy  of 
the  subject,  and  a  truthful  portrayal  of  the  sublime  grandeur,  the 
awful  terror  and  desolate  ruin  so  quickly  wrought,  is  a  subject  that 
inspired  the  artists  to  their  noblest  effort.  They  became  so 
enraptured  with  the  work,  that  they  seemed  to  live  in  and  become 
a  part  of  it.  Some  of  them  at  times  became  so  oblivious  to  all, 
except  some  especially  thrilling  scene  they  were  then  working 
out,  that  time,  place  and  situation  was  lost  to  them;  the  hours 
would  come  and  go  unnoticed,  until  aroused  by  a  comrade  and 
informed  that  the  day  was  done,  and  then  only  would  they  realize 
the  demand  of  nature  for  food  and  rest. 

Salvador  Mege  of  Paris  is  recognized 
in  the  profession  as  an  artist  of  remark- 
able ability  and  versatility.  Capable  of 
doing  an  enormous  amount  of  work  in 
a  given  time,  to  him  was  committed,  to- 
gether with  Mr.  Austen,  the  fire  effects, 
the  tones  and  values  of  sky,  lake  and 
ruins.  The  canvas  alone  can  speak  and 
say  how  well  the  work  has  been  done. 


38  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

Mr.  Edward  James  Austen  of  Lon- 
don was  indispensable.  Mr.  Austen  is 
not  only  an  artist  of  rare  ability,  but  he 
is  a  thorough  mathematician,  and  a  mas- 
ter of  perspective  drawing.  Mr.  Austen 
and  Mr.  Mege  laid  out  the  entire  city, 
locating  and  drawing  all  the  streets,  locat- 
ing ruins  and  indicating  points  of  historic 
interest.  All  lines  upon  the  canvas  that 
seem  to  the  observer  to  be  straight,  are  in  fact  curved,  so  the 
difficulties  in  making  the  maze  of  streets  and  alleys  appear  right 
is  a  task  that  called  for  the  very  acme  of  skill  and  painstaking 
effort.  Mr.  Austen  has  been  for  years  a  prominent  figure  in 
Cyclorama  work,  some  of  the  best  bits  to  be  found  in  the  Cyclo- 
ramas  of  Gettysburg,  Jerusalem,  The  Siege  of  Paris,  and  The 
Chicago  Fire,  are  from  his  brush.  During  the  progress  of  the 
work  Mr.  Austen  was  severely  injured  by  falling  from  a  scaffold, 
and  for  weeks  could  not  leave  his  bed.  He  chafed  and  fretted 
in  confinement,  talked  and  dreamed  of  his  idol,  and  at  last  when 
barely  able  to  stand,  and  against  the  advice  of  his  physician  and 
the  entreaties  of  his  wife,  he  returned  to  the  canvas  to  complete 
his  work. 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


39 


Oliver  Dennett  Grover,  of  the  Chicago 
Art  Institute,  is  so  well  known  to  Chicago 
people  that  he  needs  no  introduction,  and 
no  words  of  fulsome  praise  could  add  to  his 
reputation  as  an  artist  of  exceptional  ability. 
He  is  conscientious  in  his  work  to  the  last 
degree.  Mr.  Grover  is  Seen  at  his  best  in 
composition  and  figure  work,  and  to  him 
was  committed  the  general  arrangement,  composition  and  en- 
semble of  the  figure  painting. 

Paul  Wilhelmi,  now  of  Chicago,  but 
formerly  of  Dusseldorf,  is  an  artist  of 
whom  it  is  a  pleasure  to  speak.  His  great 
ability  was  recognized  in  this  work  by 
committing  to  his  hands  a  large  share  of 
foreground  groups  and  figures.  The  scene 
in  and  about  the  two  tugs  was  drawn  and 
painted  by  him.  Mr.  Wilhelmi  has  abun- 
dant resources;  he  seldom  repeats  himself.  There  is  about  his 
work  an  air  of  originality  not  common  even  among  Cyclorama 
artists. 

William  Leftwich  Dodge  is  a  young  man,  scarcely  twenty- 
five,  but  he  is  such  an  enthusiast  in  his  profession  that  he  has  had 
more  experience  and  done  more  work  than  the  average  man  of 
forty.  He  calls  New  York  his  home,  but  in  fact  he  is  cosmopoli- 


4O  THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 

tan,  dividing  his  time  among  the  art  centers  of  the  world.  Mr. 
Dodge  is  brilliant,  even  dashing,  with  a  splendid  physique  and 
untiring  energy.  His  future  will  undoubtedly  prove  a  triumph 
for  him.  Mr.  Dodge  was  a  pupil  of  Gerome  for  eight  years. 

Mr.  Ernest  Albert  is  an  American  artist 
who  has  made  a  very  enviable  reputation,  and 
is  in  fact  the  leading  man  in  his  special  work. 
Mr.  Albert  is  very  original,  full  of  resources, 
and  a  first-class  all-around  man.  Whatever  he 
attempts  he  succeeds  in.  The  painting  by 
him  of  the  north  pier  from  the  bridge  to  the 
lighthouse  is  a  particularly  happy  effect. 
One  of  the  features  of  the  painting  that  attracts  a  great  deal  of 
attention  and  provokes  much  favorable  comment  is  the  reflection 
of  the  firelight  upon  the  windows  and  buildings  in  this  part  of 
the  painting. 

Richard  Lorenz,  the  great  animal  painter,  calls  Munich  his 
home,  and  has  spent  the  best  years  of  his  life  in  and  about  that 
city.  At  the  present  time  he  is  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  teaching 
in  the  art  school  there.  Mr.  Lorenz  is  a  strong,  bold  painter,  his 
especial  delight  being  horses. 

Charles  A.  Corwin  is  an  American  artist  who  has  spent  many 
years  in  study  in  the  best  schools  of  art  in  Europe.  He  does 
uniformly  well  whatever  he  undertakes,  and  is  particularly  strong 
as  a  figure  painter.  The  masses  on  the  lake  front,  and  many  of 


THE    CHICAGO    FIRE. 


the  middle-distance  figures  are  his  work, 
a  number  of  ruins. 


He  also  painted  quite 


Edgar  S.  Cameron,  the  artist  and  art 
critic  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  did  effec- 
tive work  on  middle-distance  figures. 
The  results  of  his  effort  have  been  much 
admired,  and  stamp  him  as  an  artist  of 
undoubted  ability. 
A.  Fleury,  of 
Paris,  is  well  known 
across  the  water  as 

an  artist  of  rare  qualifications,  his  strong 
hold  being  marine  architecture. 

C.  H.  Collins,  now  a  resident  of  Iowa, 
modest,    unassuming   man,   who  has 
remarkable  ability  as 
an  artist,  and  has  spent 

years  outdoors  painting  from  nature.  His 
untiring  energy  and  great  natural  ability 
has  enabled  him  to  become  what  might  be 
termed  a  self-made  man  in  his  profession. 
Mr.  Collins  has  probably  worked  upon  more 
Cycloramas  than  any  other  artist,  except 
Mr.  Austen.  Some  of  the  most  effective  ruins  upon  the  great 
canvas  are  his  work. 


is   a 


VENTILATION  OF  THE  CYCLORAMA  BUILDING. 

The  public  are  painfully  aware  that,  as  a  rule,  little  or  no 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  proper  ventilation  of  places  of 
amusement,  and  particularly  so  of  cycloramas,  the  nature  of  the 
building  making  it  a  very  difficult  problem.  The  management  of 
the  Chicago  Fire  Cyclorama  have  made  a  very  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  various  devices  designed  for  forcing  ventilation,  to  the 
end  that  their  building  might  justly  claim  to  be  the  best  ventilated 
place  of  amusement  in  the  city.  They  have  at  last  determined  to 
select,  as  best  suited  to  their  purpose,  the  Garden  City  Exhaust 
Fan,  manufactured  by  the  Garden  City  Fan  Co.  of  this  city,  and 
with  this  most  excellent  device  it  is  believed  that  ventilation  will 
be  all  that  could  be  desired. 

To  supply  the  power  for  the  propulsion  of  this  fan,  the  man- 
agement selected  the  Kane  Electro  Gas  Engine,  manufactured  by 
Thomas  Kane  &  Co.  of  this  city.  In  the  opinion  of  the  managers, 
this  engine  is  found  to  be  more  compact,  more  reliable  and  more 
uniform  in  operation  than  any  other.  This  engine  differs  from 
anything  else  of  the  kind  on  the  market,  as  no  flame  or  fire  is 
used,  but  instead  the  gas  is  ignited  in  the  cylinder  by  a  spark 
from  a  small  battery.  The  engine  is  started  in  a  moment  and 
then  will  run  by  itself  without  further  attention,  and  the  cost  of 
operating  does  not  exceed  one  cent  per  hour  per  horse  power. 
It  meets  the  requirement  perfectly,  and  is  everything  that  is 
claimed  for  it  by  the  manufacturers. 


EST  QHAIR 

OVER    FIFTY 
CHANGES  OF 
POSITION. 
EASILY  ADJUSTED. 
LIGHT,   NEAT, 
INDESTRUCTIBLE 
AND    +    +    + 
DECIDEDLY 

COMFORTABLE. 
PRICES  LOWEST. 
QUALITY  BEST. 
Send  for  Catalogue  and   Price  List 

MARKS  ADJUSTABLE  CHAIR  CO. 

93O  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 
2 1 5  WABASH  AVE.,  CHICAGO. 


We  aim  to  carry  in  stock  everything  used  by  the  Painter,  Decorator,  Designer  and  Artist. 
It  will  pay  you  to  call  and  look  over  our  stock  or  send  for  our  Illustrated  Catalogue. 


JULIEN  HOTEL 


63d  Street  ^Stewart  Boulevard. 


LOCATION  TEN  MINUTES  BY  STREET  CARS 
FROM  WORLD'S  FAIR  GROUNDS, 


JULIEN  is  a  quiet  hotel  of  peculiar  excellence. 
Its  patrons  will  find  every  convenience  of  the  best 
modern  hotel  at  a  moderate  scale  of  prices. 

Over  1OO  trains  daily  to  the  down -town  districts. 
Time,  twenty-five  minutes.  The  hotel  is  pleasantly  situ- 
ated among  the  beautiful  homes  of  Englewood,  one  of 
the  high  class  residence  districts  of  Chicago. 

World's  Fair  visitors  will  find  the  JULIEN  one  of 
the  most  accessible  and  best  appointed  hotels  in  the 
city.  Several  hundred  rooms  on  the  European  plan. 
Accommodations  for  that  period  can  be  contracted  at 
any  time.  Correspondence  solicited. 

THE,  JULIEN  <HOTEL  Go. 


iles 


NTERIOR  BEGORflTIONS 


STAINED  GLASS 


14  Monroe  St.  Chicago,  III. 


JOHN  Ml,  MftsuRY  &  SON  • 


NEW  YORK 

AND  CHICAGO. 


.~—  MANUFACTURERS  OF 


VflRNISHES 


OH  ic  AGO  OFFICE, 

Masuru  Building,  190-191-192  Michigan  Avenue. 

FACTORIES  AND  WORKS,  BROOKLYN,  L  I. 


The  Paints  used  upon  this  Cyclorama  were  principally  supplied  by  us. 


REGAN  ELECTRO  VAPOR  ENGINE  • 

Gas  or  Gasoline  for  Fuel. 

NO  FIRE!    NO  BOILER! 
NO  DIRT!    NO  DANGER! 

Operated  by  an  Electric  Spark 
from  Small  Battery. 

YOU  TURN  THE  SWITCH,  ENGINE  DOES  THE  REST. 

Guaranteed  not  to  cost  over  ONE  AND  ONE -HALF  CENTS  an  hour  per 
horse-power  to  run.     Sizes  from  one-half  to  ten  horse-power. 

THOMAS  KANE:  &,  co. 

Catalogue  on  Application.  137  &  139  Wabasll  Ave.,  CMcagO,  111. 

ANSON  S.  HOPKINS,  Pres.  and  Gen'l  Mgr.    B.  E.  SUNNY,  Vice-Pres.    J.  G.  SANBORN,  Sec.  and  Treas. 

THE  HENRY  DIBBLEE  CO. 

*  ENGLISH  CERAMIC  MOSAICS  • 

Mantels,  Grates  ^Tiles 

BANK,  OFFICE  AND  CLUB  EQUIPMENTS, 
FURNITURE  AND  DECORATIONS. 

ESTABLISHED    1873.  INCORPORATED    1886. 

SALESROOMS  AND  MANUFACTORY, 

149  &,  150   MICHIGAN   AVENUE, 

CHIOAGO,   ILL. 


Sole  Chicago  Representatives 
MAW  &  CO.,  Limited, 
Shropshire,  England. 

CORRESPONDENCE   SOLICITED. 


Fine  Bank  and  Office 
Interiors  from  Our  Own 
or  Architects'  Designs. 

INSPECTION    INVITED. 


EGGLESTON,  MALLETTE  &  BROWNELL 
REAL  ESTATE  *>  LOANS 

MANAGE   ESTATES   FOR    NON-RESIDENTS. 
NEGOTIATE    FIRST  MORTGAGE   LOANS. 

CHOICE  MORTGAGES  AT  6  PER  CENT.  AND  7  PER  CENT.  ON  HAND. 

We  can  show  a  very  desirable  list  of  Real  Estate  for 
investments  in   Chicago  and  vicinity. 

SUITE  207,  TACOMA   BUILDING,  CHICAGO, 

H.  O.  STONE.  T.  W.  MAGILL. 

OFFIC  EOF 

H,  O.  STONE  &  CO, 

REAL  ESTATE  AND  RENTING 

MONEY  TO    LOAN. 

206  LA  SALLE  STREET,          CHICAGO. 

TELEPHONE,  MAIN  681. 


BEST  LINE  TO 


Burlington 


MINNEAPOLIS 
ST.  PAUL 
KANSAS  CITY 
OMAHA 
DENVER  r^H 
UTAH  AND  CALIFORNIA 


CITY  TICKET  OFFICE  211  CLARK  ST. 


